Adaline (The Wallflower Series Book 3) (16 page)

“Of course! The very night we spoke, I went over to her place and made her speak to me. She had been avoiding me for weeks! And then when we see each other again, she’s all cuddled up with some fucking new guy as if our relationship hadn’t been on the brink of something different. I was pissed, but I knew I was at fault.”

“What did you do?”

“I told her to choose me. I showed her what was between us.”

At that, Dmitri’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You slept with her?”

“No…well, not completely.”

Dmitri scoffed. “It’s a yes-or-no question, Dom.”

“Oh, don’t be Mr. High-and-Mighty with me. You would have done the same thing even if Carter and Sasha had been more serious with one another. Adaline’s relationship with…whatever the fuck his name is…is in its infancy. There won’t be any hearts broken.”

“How do you know that? Maybe the reason she hasn’t given you a clear answer is because she does have strong feelings for him? Are you prepared for that? What would you do if she chose him over you?”

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t thought of the possibility. But, Dominic hadn’t
wanted
to think about it. She had wanted him first and had been willing to wait for him, but then he had been too encumbered by protecting his pride over Dina and Slade. In doing so, could he have possibly ruined any chance he had?

“I’d keep fighting because I know there’s something there. Dmitri, we were friends in high school, and I was so thrown by how I felt when I saw her. I didn’t want to believe it though because that would just make me feel like the dumbest asshole. I was the one that vehemently denied anything romantic between us when were young. How could I possibly consider going against that now? Especially when I was in such a muddled relationship with Dina. Or at least so I thought.

“Its all types of screwed up and selfish, but I know we have something genuine between us. She’s the one I wanted to talk to every time I became frustrated and enraged by my situation with Dina. I feel comfortable around her. And we have history. More history than she has with the
guy
she’s with now.”

A silence fell between them as they both were in deep thought. Finally, Dmitri replied,

“I don’t want you to get upset with me. I believe you may have genuine feelings for her, but just considering what happened with Dina…are you sure you’re so adamant about Adaline because you truly see the two of you having a successful relationship or because your pride can’t stand the thought of losing again to another man?”

Dominic’s eyes widened in shock at his question but he fervently shook his head in denial at the suggestion. “No, I’ve wanted her before she was even with him.”

But there was a hint of uncertainty in his voice that they both recognized. Dmitri didn’t point it out however. Instead, he dropped the subject altogether to discuss the upcoming meeting and his proposal for their marketing strategy.

~~~~

She could feel his hands exploring her body. His significantly larger palms grasped her voluptuous breasts before moving down to follow the soft curves of her hips and thighs. A sigh released from her parted lips as they reached farther back to explore the plumpness of her behind. A sharp smack punctuated their exploration, causing her to gasp in surprise but then moan at the lingering warmth their abuse left behind. His mouth continued to suckle gently at the soft skin of her neck and collarbone. His warm breath was a continued precursor to the feel of his lips that left her wanting and desperate for more. For some reason, she couldn’t move. Instead, she was left under his control. Desperate and wanting. And while it terrified her, she was also thrilled.

Finally, his rough hands opened her thighs and her pussy wept from his nearness. He glided the hardened head against her slit to continue to tease her. She wanted to yell and scream her frustration but she knew the wait would only heighten their pleasure when they finally became one. So when she felt it at her entrance pushing forward, her gaze traveled from the point of their union up to his muscled and well-defined stomach and chest until she finally laid eyes on him. Just as their gazes met, he pushed forward, unforgiving.

At the discomfort of his entrance into her tight hold, Adaline screamed in ecstasy. “Dominic!”

Floundering and twisting her body, Adaline woke up in a panic. Her skin felt sticky with sweat and her chest rose and fell harshly. She released another scream at the surprising face that appeared in her view.

“Relax…it’s just me.”

Her mind finally recognizing who it was, Adaline sat up and realized where she was as well. It was Murphy’s apartment and she had obviously fallen asleep on his couch while they had been watching a movie. And to think she had just been having a sex dream with none other than Dominic. Her cheeks began to flush with embarrassment. She could only hope that Murphy hadn’t been witness to any moans of desire as her mind had imagined Dominic and his gentle but assertive touch.

“You were just having a bad dream. Are you okay?”

Relieved that he thought she had been having a nightmare, Adaline nodded her head.
“I’m sorry for falling asleep on you. It’s just been a very eventful week at work, and I haven’t been sleeping well.”

“What’s going on?”
Murphy asked with concern marring his features.

Adaline looked into his bright blue eyes and felt the guilt clenching her heart grow even more. Why was he such a good guy? How could she ever think about letting what was beginning to form between them go for a man who had only recently showed an interest in her? Murphy had been attracted to her from the very beginning. Not after being rejected from a beautiful woman and then feeling like his best friend could be the perfect rebound.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Some of my new students are struggling with getting acclimated and it shows in their frustrations in our sessions. I guess I’m blaming myself for not being able to do more.”
She was able to quickly come up with a diversion from her more pertinent troubles.

Murphy nodded his understanding.
“You can’t learn for them, Adaline. As a therapist, you’re already covering expressive language, communication skills, interaction skills, and so much more. It takes time and your students will continue to feel frustrated, but don’t put that on yourself. This frustration is something we go through on a daily basis. It’s just a part of our life, and they need to come to terms with it so it’s not a hindrance. Some people will never understand us because they don’t want to.”

And that was something Dominic may never understand. She was privileged growing up with the Langs. She had gotten a cochlear implant and had enough speech and language therapy to communicate effectively at a young age. But people like Lucille and the many kids at the school may not have had the same opportunity. How could she ever make him see that? Something so important to who she was as a person.

But Murphy understood.

Instead of responding, she reached out to him and embraced him. Despite the kisses and pecks here and there, they had never been intimate. The fire that seemed to constantly burn between her and Dominic didn’t exist with Murphy. But he provided her with so much more than passion. She laid her chin on his shoulder and sighed.

In response, Murphy pulled slightly away so he could kiss her on the cheek. So accustomed to such a simply display of affection, Adaline didn’t respond at first. But when she felt his lips trail closer to hers, she stiffened. In the moment, she assumed her body was responding in surprise- taken aback by this change of routine. But when his lips fell onto hers, when his arms encircled her waist to pull her closer, and his tongue swiped gently at the entrance to her mouth, she realized the reason behind her stiffness and unresponsiveness.

He was in her head and he wouldn’t get out. Her mind and body remembered Dominic so deeply it reached into her subconscious, surfacing through her dreams.

In a desperate effort to forget him, Adaline kissed Murphy back. His kiss was gentle, not as demanding as Dominic who would gently coax her into submitting to him before taking complete control. While Murphy’s kiss was enjoyable, she found that she preferred someone else.

To her relief, her phone began to ring. Murphy released her slowly with a familiar smile on his lips. When Adaline turned to her phone, she was shocked at the number that appeared. Usually she would ignore it, but in a desperate need to avoid her passionless connection to Murphy, she swiped the screen to answer with a video call.

There had been an accident.

It was the words anyone would fear hearing when they answered the phone, especially when it came to a loved one. And with that news, Adaline had been forced to drop everything in Boston and come running back to her childhood. It seemed fitting, Adaline thought as she looked up at the house she had deserted what seemed like years ago but really had only been a few months. People always returned to the beginning of their problems when faced with an insurmountable dilemma, right? Unfortunately, that wasn’t exactly the reason she was back. This was not a moment of introspection when it came to her relationship with Dominic and Murphy. It was a moment of fear at the possibility of losing someone she held close to her heart. When she had said goodbye the first time to move to Boston, it had felt permanent. While a part of her could never turn her nose up at her aunt and uncle’s willingness to house and raise her after her parents’ unfortunate passing, this place had still never felt completely like home. Maybe that was partly her fault.

Because as Adaline walked up to the entrance and entered the grand house, she could easily recall the many times her uncle had tried to address her emotional distance. And she felt guilty for not having made more of an attempt to stay in contact. She had become so caught up in her own life, she wished she had taken more time to talk to him instead of the short texts back-and-forth.

“So, you’re just going to show up as if nothing has happened?” Carla’s lips were turned up into a sneer as she watched her cousin standing in the foyer beneath the large chandelier.

Adaline didn’t bother to respond as she passed Carla in the hallway. Her attentions were completely concentrated on one person in particular. After receiving the call at the beginning of the week that her uncle was sick, she hadn’t even given a second thought to seeing Carla and her aunt again. They were second to ensuring the continued health of someone who had been her one and only ally throughout her childhood.

At the question posed to her, Adaline signed in the affirmative. Immediately, she winced at the look of disappointment and irritation that faced her from her aunt.

“How many times do we have to go through this Adaline? If you don’t practice, you’ll never develop your verbal skills. Now, I asked you a question.” Victoria’s lips were pursed and her arms crossed across her ample chest as she waited for the correct response from her niece.

Adaline gulped; her eyes diverted reflexively to the smaller version of Victoria sitting across from her at the dining room table. A smug grin greeted her. Adaline’s eyes narrowed at the vehemence and triumph she felt from her cousin Carla. At first, their inability to develop a friendship had seemed to be a natural shyness of both parties. But Adaline soon learned that shy was never a word one could use to describe Carla. Vindictive was better.

Carla, from the very moment Adaline stepped across the threshold of their mansion- there was no other way of describing a house that size- had played her cards close to her chest. She wanted to leave Adaline in suspense about her welcome into the fold of the Lang family. Or maybe she had been looking to see what role Adaline would find. Adaline wasn’t exactly certain, but the optimist in her wanted to believe that despite Carla’s current behavior, it was unfair to presume such wickedness had existed within her even as a toddler. Whatever the case may be, Adaline had come to realize from Carla’s treatment that the other young woman was simply a victim of jealousy. She had been at the forefront of the family and saw Adaline’s presence as a threat to that very existence. Carla was the sole princess in her own eyes, and she would do whatever it took to remind Adaline of that fact. The young, deaf girl was an outsider that was welcomed out of the goodness of her aunt and uncle’s hearts, and she best not forget that.

“I’m sorry, Auntie. Yes, I finished all my homework.”

Adaline ignored the snicker she heard from Carla. Instead, she did her best to read the lips of her uncle as he spoke,

“Victoria…maybe you shouldn’t be so hard on her. She is forced to speak all day in her class, considering your refusal to get her a translator.”

Victoria harrumphed, “The girl doesn’t need a translator. We got her a cochlear implant; it’s doing all the work for her.” She turned to Adaline, “You understand everything, don’t you?”

It was a conversation they had had several times, but Victoria never actually heard her. Adaline could go on and on about the research of cochlear implants and how it wasn’t a cure for hearing loss. It didn’t make her just like everyone else. In fact, sounds were still distorted. Adaline relied heavily on context and her ability to read lips. But Victoria would often forget that little tidbit to the point that she sometimes wouldn’t look at her directly when speaking to her.

But, instead of revealing the countless headaches, mental exhaustion, frustration, bulling, relational aggression, and exclusion she went through on a daily basis, Adaline narrowed her eyes and simply nodded her head. It was enough for Victoria to drop the subject. But it wasn’t enough for her Uncle Dean.

As she was getting ready for bed that night, he entered her room after softly knocking on her door. Adaline greeted him with a warm smile as she settled deeply into the covers of her bed. On her bedside was her favorite picture of her parents at the wedding. She would look at it every night and sign to them about her day. It was the one moment in the day where she felt that’s he could embrace her physical disability. Growing up, she had always known she was different, but with them she had ever felt ashamed of it. And she fought with the sometimes-incessant negative voices to not be.

“How are you feeling Adaline?”

“I’m good, Uncle Dean. Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?”

Dean sat down on the edge of her bed but made sure she could see his face clearly by turning slightly to her at an angle. His eyes settled on her bedside table to the familiar wedding photo. Adaline watched him closely and wondered what his relationship had been to her parents. She already knew from her grandmother that Victoria and her mother had gone from being the best of friends to estranged sisters that could barely tolerate one another. She didn’t know the full story, only what she heard through the grapevine at family gatherings. It surprised her then that Victoria had allowed her to stay. But then maybe she felt guilty for never having resolved the conflict between her and her sister before the latter’s untimely death. Maybe caring for Adaline was her salvation in some way.

“What’s wrong, Uncle? You look sad.”

He smiled slowly. “I am sad. I’m sad that we haven’t made you feel that you could be yourself here. It’s something your mother would never have wanted.”

Ears perking up at the mention of her mother, Adaline sat up attentively, “Can you tell me more about her?”

Her uncle smiled down at her, knowing she was coming to an age where it was important for a girl to have a maternal figure. It further saddened him that maybe his wife wasn’t taking on that role in as much of a way as Adaline needed. Which only added to her interest in her mother.

“Your mother was a truly beautiful woman. Just like you, her hair was like a cloud above her head. It was her halo,” playfully, he rubbed his hands in her Afro of hair. Carla would constantly tease her about her ‘nappy’ head, but he loved that Adaline never let it get to her. She loved her hair and now loved it even more knowing that it made her look like her mother. Despite the negativity in the house, he wanted her to be proud of whom she was. “And she was so intelligent. Whenever I was around her, I was in awe of who she was.” His gaze began to wander as he spoke, “I remember the first time I laid eyes on her. Some older gentleman had said something pretty racist about how she looked. I was getting ready to intervene, but before I could even move, she told him off.” He laughed at the memory. “Amaris was like wildfire, and I had never experienced anything like it.”

Adaline frowned at the memory he explained. While still young, she could tell from the emotion coating his speech, that this memory held unparalleled significance. But why would her uncle have been so close to her mother. Hadn’t he been with Victoria? “Were you and my mother best friends?”

Uncle Dean was rocked from his memory by the sound of her voice, he hesitated before nodding his head slightly, “Yes, Adaline. Amaris was my best friend. So every time I see you, I am reminded of her. You are as much a daughter to me as Carla. I don’t want you to ever forget that, do you hear me?”

A blush rose to her cheeks as he bent down and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Thank you, Uncle Dean.”

And then he surprised her. He signed,
“Now sleep.”

Gasping, Adaline could only find her voice enough to say, “Uncle Dean?”

The wide smile on his face gave him laugh lines around the corners of his eyes and displayed a slight dimple in his left cheek. “I’m trying to learn for you. It’ll be our little secret.”

And for years, it had been. While he had never been fluent, Adaline heart had warmed at his attempts. But she had never again questioned him about his relationship with her mother, though he had obviously been a source for more information. Victoria had always been close-lipped about Amaris and their experiences growing up. Adaline had assumed that it was simply painful to remember, but her uncle had never seemed pained by the memories. Instead, it was as if he held onto them like a lifeline. They were memories of happiness and love.
Love.
It still confused her. How could there have been love between Dean and Amaris? Hadn’t their only connection between Victoria?

More and more questions raced through her mind as she climbed the stairs of her childhood home. But more important than curiosities into the past was the state of her Uncle now. That day with Murphy, Victoria had called her in anger and for the first time, Adaline had seen fear in her expression. There had been an accident.

Her uncle had been working on the roof when he slipped and fell to the ground. According to her aunt, he had been in critical condition from a head injury. The damage was not as severe as it could have been. However, because of how he landed, there was cranial nerve damage causing temporary loss of vision. At the news, Adaline had wanted to laugh at the humorous coincidence of the world. But that short millisecond had quickly transferred over to worry and fear of losing someone she never realized mattered so much. It was only now she was remembering the many times Dean had been a source of strength for her growing up in a foreign household.

He had been released from the hospital after being under the care of the doctors for several weeks. While he still did not have his vision back, it was a miracle he wasn’t in a coma. After Victoria ranted and raved to the hospital staff, they finally agreed to let him come home and rest in a familiar environment. With still round-the-clock care, Dean was nowhere near being his former healthy self, but he was continually making steps in the right direction.

All this from one phone call. Adaline could only wonder how different things could have been had she just answered them before. Their efforts had only continued because her uncle had been desperate to see her again.

Adaline entered the master bedroom tentatively after knocking on the open door to warn of her presence. Victoria and Dean’s room was a massive suite. Their king-sized bed didn’t even take up half the room. It sat in the far corner while a sitting area and bookcase decorated the immediate area. In the far right corner was a hallway into their walking closet and bathroom suite. She could count on one hand the number of times she had ever entered their room. It had been a forbidden space in her childhood, which had only further incurred her curiosity. Once she entered it however, she had been thoroughly disappointed by just how
normal
it was. Despite the size.

“Aunt Victoria,” she called out softly. She could see her aunt sitting down beside the bed with her head in her hands. At the sound of her voice, Victoria immediately looked up and frowned at seeing her. Her immediate reaction quickly changed when her husband spoke,

“Is that Adaline? Adaline?” Her uncle began to sit up. Large pillows surrounded him and his head was still wrapped.

“Yes, it’s me, Uncle.” Adaline came closer to the bed and leaned down to give him a peck on the cheek. He smiled up at her automatically even without his sight.

“I’m going to step out and give you two some time to talk,” Victoria stated stiffly. Without so much as a glance in Adaline’s direction, she walked out the door to their bedroom.

“She has every right to be mad at me,” Adaline conceded. “I should have answered you all sooner. I’m sorry about that. I just got caught up in my life at Boston; I didn’t want to somehow be persuaded to come back here after feeling stuck for so long. But I’m here now, Uncle. And I’ll stay until you get better.”

Dean laughed softly and shook his head, “I’m not on my deathbed. Don’t be so dramatic. It’s only my sight.”

But even as he joked, Adaline could tell from the lines around his brow that it worried him. While it was only supposed to be temporary, no one could say exactly when his sight would return. Adaline already knew Victoria and Carla were anxious for that day. But what if it never came? Adaline worried that they wouldn’t be capable of the compassion and understanding Dean would need during his times of vulnerability and frustration.

“I feel like I deserve this,” he stated softly.